The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables

Ever wonder how peas, kale, asparagus, beans, squash and sweetcorn ended up on our plates? Well, so did Adam Alexander.

Adam Alexander is The Seed Detective. His passion for vegetables was ignited when he tasted an unusual sweet pepper with a fiery heart while on a film-making project in Ukraine. Smitten by its flavour, Adam began to seek out local growers of endangered heritage and heirloom varieties in a mission to take home seeds to grow and share so that he could enjoy their delicious taste – and save them from being lost forever.

In The Seed Detective, Adam shares his own stories of seed hunting, with the origin stories behind many of our everyday vegetable heroes. Taking us on a journey that began when we left the life of the hunter-gatherer to become farmers, he tells tales of globalisation, political intrigue, colonisation and serendipity – describing how these vegetables and their travels have become embedded in our food cultures.

‘We are a nation of vegetable growers’, says Adam, ‘and this book explores the wonderful world of rare and endangered heritage and heirloom vegetables – and why we must keep growing them and saving their seed, not only for our gardening and culinary pleasure, but to pass these stories on – vegetables are truly our history on a plate.’